A legend who found fame in Phoenix and ultimately returned to the Valley at the end of his celebrated life and career would have turned 89 years old on Monday.
Waylon Jennings was born June 15, 1937, in Littlefield, Texas, a small town northwest of Lubbock and south of the Texas Panhandle. His hometown keeps alive Jennings’ legacy with a “Waylon Jennings Boulevard” that goes through town, not to mention the combination Waylon Jennings Museum and Liquor Store, but Phoenix was his launching pad to stardom, and he and his Phoenix-born wife, Jessi Colter, finally settled in Chandler shortly before he died of complications of diabetes on Feb. 13, 2002.
In one of his last-ever performances in Phoenix — March 8, 1997, at Celebrity Theatre — he was still joking and telling stories from the stage about his longtime association with the Valley.
